PRIORITIZING PROFITS NEGATIVELY IMPACTS WORKPLACE CULTURE:

The corporate narrative of most veterinary consolidators is that they will preserve the legacy of the individual practices that they acquire. In many cases, these hospitals have been part of a community for decades and have had their own unique culture and was heavily influenced by the independent doctor that owned and operated the veterinary practice, and its small team of employees. In the past, practice owners were involved in all tasks at the hospital, knew all of its employees, and created a positive environment where employees could express their opinions, ideas and concerns.

CONSOLIDATORS OWN, OPERATE AND ULTIMATELY CONTROL THEIR INDIVIDUAL VETERINARY PRACTICES:

  • Large veterinary consolidators own, operate and control hundreds of practices across the U.S. The business model requires a Support Center and includes multiple levels of management that are highly-incentivized and is often located in a different state — far from its individual practice locations. Typically, there is a lack of effective communication between management and most employees at their individual practice locations and managers rarely visit there large network of hospitals.

CARE for Pets™ has analyzed employee reviews for several of the larger veterinary consolidators on the leading job websites — many employees say their workplace culture is negatively impacted by corporate ownership. When a company prioritizes profits over patient care, it can negatively impact workplace culture and values by creating a high-pressure environment that often leads to employee burnout and may drive workers away from the veterinary profession.

WORKPLACE CULTURE IS NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY VETERINARY CONSOLIDATORS*

  • They promised no changes. Shortly after the acquisition, they began firing workers, cutting hours, and dictating how we practice. Everyone is stressed and overworked from all the chaos.
  • The company is constantly closing down veterinary hospitals that they have recently acquired and then “merging” them with their existing practices. Essentially, the hospital merges with another nearby hospital that is owned by the same parent company.
  • Instead of actually fixing issues internally, the company will try and get you to switch to another hospital within their network — employee morale crashed to an all-time low after corporate took over.
  • When major problems need to be addressed we are immediately ignored by corporate management. In the last year we have gone through several regional manager transitions — we feel unheard and uncared for.
  • The most stressful part about working at this company is knowing that they don’t care about you, the other co-workers, and their clients.
  • Upper management makes no effort to learn the names of each of their employees at its individual practice locations — lack of engagement and respect towards their workforce.
  • What used to feel like a close-knit, supportive culture, is now becoming a typical corporate company where you’re just a number — human resources cares about the company, not their people.
  • They micromanage everything yet they still remain largely unreachable. Employee concerns and attempts at contacting higher-ups often fall on deaf ears.
  • We had a significant increase in employee turnover following the acquisition of the veterinary practice. Long-time customers were complaining about the “feel” of the practice changing and expressed disappointment.
  • Our practice was recently acquired and everything has changed and it’s no longer the hospital that I used to love working at or enjoyed going to work for.
  • Contacting the Human Resources department is unhelpful or ineffective as your concerns will never be heard and you will end up seen as the problem.
  • Corporate seemed completely unaware of the challenges faced by their employees and lacked common decency.
  • The higher ups from the corporate office come in from time to time, and it’s obvious they have no connection to their employees working the front lines.
  • Upper management micromanaged us. The majority of the staff quit due to focus on productivity numbers and cutting of hours.
  • No support from higher-ups at corporate management to improve local leadership — gaslighting good employees is leading to staff burnout and decline in mental health.
  • The company tends to care more about new employees over existing ones.
  • It’s a revolving door of DVMs, managers, support staff and corporate regional managers because its a toxic environment.
  • Constant pressure to see higher volume of patients is causing great stress on the staff – losing many long-term employees.
  • Cleared out all senior staff after being acquired by veterinary consolidator.
  • High turnover in upper management causes instability “downstream.”
  • Everyone is stressed because you have no job security — in corporate life they think if you feel job security you become less productive.
  • Took a great functional hospital and ruined it. Upper management threatens constantly to cut hours or close practice for the day, if employees don’t bring in more money.
  • Communication from upper management is almost nonexistent.
  • The company cut employee hours randomly and without providing any explanation beforehand — poor communication.
  • Company refuses to rehire new employees after other employees leave, causing burnout among the remaining team.
  • They focus more on employees making money for the company than the wellbeing of their staff — It’s caused so much burn out and distrust for this company.
  • Employees arrive at work every day not knowing if they will be fired that day for a mistake they didn’t know they made — staff are worried watching their co-workers getting fired.
  • Several staff members with decades of dedication to the hospital have been let go or quit.
  • There is a lack of understanding and communication between management and frontline employees. Management lacks the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage the team and many come from industries unrelated to veterinary medicine.
  • My job that I formerly loved to go to and would offer to help outside of my scheduled hours (before being acquired), is now a place that has no heart.
  • Corporation excessively prioritizes production scores which is driving their staff into the ground, along with its positive culture and work life balance.
  • Complainants are routinely fired, and issues are never addressed.
  • The company insists on double and or triple booking appointments while the hospital is understaffed. The employees are blamed for not being able to complete their work tasks at the required pace.
  • Employees face retaliation from management if issues are brought up that need to be addressed — management is clueless about running a hospital and have no previous experience in veterinary medicine.
  • This company reminds you constantly that you are replaceable.
  • The corporation has destroyed the culture, and we have lost all experienced veterinarians. Existing staff are terrified to say anything — employees don’t trust the company.
  • Our hospital went completely downhill after we went corporate — lost the original family owned feel.
  • Managers with no veterinary medical knowledge or expertise are telling veterinary professionals how to run their practices.
  • The stress of constantly worrying about your job security is not worth it.
  • Working at this company has me constantly fearful of my job and wondering what will happen tomorrow.
  • The company decided to let go of all the high-salary employees with a lot of tenure — the budget rules everything.
  • The company pushes for “cross training” so they can operate with a skeleton crew — employees take on double the workload for the same pay.
  • Management is basically non-existent — only supports doctors as they are “money makers.”
  • Management consistently made empty promises and failed to address any of the concerns raised by employees.

FOOTNOTES:

  • *Worker statements may be edited for length and or clarity.

RELATED:

Common Employee Complaints of Veterinary Consolidators
https://www.pets.care/common-employee-complaints-of-veterinary-consolidators/

  • PROFIT-DRIVEN VETERINARY MEDICINE: Many employees of veterinary consolidators say their employer prioritizes profits over patient care.

First-of-its-kind Study on Perceptions and Satisfaction of Veterinarians Working at Corporate vs. Privately Owned Hospitals (12.10.23)
https://www.pets.care/news/2023/12/differences-in-perceptions-and-satisfaction-exist-among-veterinarians-employed-at-corporate-versus-privately-owned-veterinary-clinics/

  • “Veterinarians working in corporate practices reported feeling more pressure than those in private practice to generate revenue and see more clients per shift” — doctors sometimes dread or fear when they learn that their hospitals can be sold to a corporate practice.